Data and artificial intelligence has played an increasingly prominent role in elections in recent years. 2024 is packed with democratic elections, in countries including the UK, United States and India, but what impact will data and AI have – both positive and negative?

How are rogue actors spreading disinformation and deploying plausible deepfakes to influence elections – and undermine our trust in democracy more generally?

How can democratic societies counter those threats – and more importantly, how can we build better future democracies by regulating and controlling AI and data effectively?

Hear from experts on these and a range of other issues around the complex interplay between artificial intelligence, data and democracy.

Turing Fest, the unique cross-functional tech event, is set to return to Edinburgh on July 9th-10th, 2024, for its 9th edition.

This gathering will unite founders and leaders in engineering, product development, and growth, offering opportunities to connect, learn, and collaborate on building better technology.

Leading tech experts will present their insights and experiences across three main tracks: Build (engineering & product), Grow (marketing & revenue), and Lead (people & company-building).

Attendees can learn through keynote sessions, speaker roundtables, peer-led “mind meld” sessions, and “lunch and learn” events. Networking opportunities include parties, speed networking sessions, and personalized 1-to-1 meetings organized via our matchmaking event app.

The Oscars of entrepreneurship at the University of Edinburgh: the Inspire Launch Grow Awards is happening on 6th June, 3pm – 6pm and is offering double the prize fund!

Inspire Launch Grow is about recognising innovation, creativity, and successes as well as the resilience, ambition, and accomplishments of entrepreneurs from the University of Edinburgh.

Accelerate your startup with the Inspire Launch Grow Awards with support, pitching advice and cash prizes to help take your startup to the next level. With three main categories to help kickstart your early-stage startup, nurture your social enterprise or accelerate your established startup. Enter now and be in with a chance of winning a share of the £48,000 prize fund.

This annual celebration of enterprise and a chance for Inspire Launch Grow finalists and winners to pitch and talk about their business with the wider enterprise ecosystem. This event is a celebration of University of Edinburgh students and alumni entrepreneurial success while giving attendees the opportunity to connect and form new partnerships and collaborations. Invitees include University of Edinburgh entrepreneurs, alumni, entrepreneurial organisations, business people, partners, investors and University colleagues. Drinks and catering will be provided. The after-party will take place at the Student Enterprise Hub with a BBQ and more drinks available.

The Business & Enterprise Breakfast Briefing being held at Heriot Watt University Scottish Borders Campus is a unique opportunity for industry leaders and businesses to engage directly with one of the UK’s leading universities in fostering innovation and enterprise.

Why Attend?

• Networking Opportunities: Connect with business leaders, innovators, and academics to expand your professional network.
• Insight into Cutting-Edge Research: Gain insights from pioneering research in sustainable design, medical technology, advanced photonics, and more, showcasing how these can translate into tangible benefits for your business.
• Tour of Innovations: Post-event, take the opportunity to visit the school’s degree showcase.

Key Features:

• Explore the Global Research Innovation Discovery (GRID) ecosystem, Heriot-Watt’s answer to making our university accessible and easy to work in partnership with.
• Hear from some leading academics and researchers on how the university is driving global innovations from across our campuses.
• Discover partnership opportunities across talent and skills, research and development and consultancy IP and licensing. Find out about Graduate Apprenticeships, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs), and bespoke consultancy services that can propel your business forward.
• Learn about unlocking government-funded initiatives and how these can benefit your business operations and growth.

Who Should Attend?

This briefing is ideal for Chief Officers, Directors, Business Owners, R&D leaders, and anyone interested in the successful intersection of academia and industry. Whether you’re from a start-up or an established company, you’ll find valuable insights and opportunities for collaboration.

Innovation, new ideas and emerging technologies in the world of food are constantly being explored and developed across a wide array of fields, disciplines, topics and specialities. However, engagement between the wide range of different subjects in which food features is often limited.

This conference will open up inter-disciplinary boundaries and blind-spots, focussing in particular on what innovation looks like and means across different areas of study involving food.

In inviting all those interested in and engaged with food to discuss what’s considered new, progressive and important from different perspectives, the conference seeks to inspire fresh thinking and improve our understanding of how food works not just in different sectors, but in the world as a whole.

“Being Innovative about Food Innovation” is a two-day event that aims to bring together a diverse community of individuals engaged with researching, studying and working with food. It’s not a standard academic conference, in that it seeks to both champion and challenge different ideas about innovation, inviting contributions in a variety of formats as a means to broadening and improving our thinking on one topic. Whether you are an academic, a researcher, nutritionist, dietitian, chef, cook, food provider, food organiser, food scientist, food educator, agronomist, grower, food producer, brewer, fermenter, marketer, communicator, government official or student, this conference offers a unique opportunity to connect, share knowledge and gain insights not just into the latest trends and breakthroughs in the food sector, but to consider different concepts of what innovation and progress mean.

Howell Davies, Interface’s Head of Strategic Programmes & Funding will be presenting on “How do you define Innovation for the Food & Drink Sector?”

Improving gut health for consumers through innovative products like ió fibrewater.

Background

After transforming their own health with prebiotics, three friends, who personally experienced gut related health challenges founded The Prebiotic Company Ltd and launched ió fibrewater, the UK’s first prebiotic, fibre-infused water in May 2022. Their vision is to lead in the creation of gut health drinks and food products, leveraging the symbiotic relationship between prebiotics and probiotics to enhance gut and overall health.

Prebiotics, specific dietary fibres, play a vital role in nurturing probiotic bacteria, which collectively support gut health and overall well-being. With over 4,000 research papers demonstrating the benefits of prebiotics in supporting the immune system and reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and colorectal cancer, as well as improving mood and sleep, ió fibrewater delivers 100% of the daily intake of prebiotics and 20% of an adult’s daily fibre intake.

The Challenge

The company’s collaboration with Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) aimed to validate the efficacy of their core product, ió fibrewater, and lay the groundwork for future product development. They sought to understand how ió fibrewater impacted different probiotics. As prebiotics feed beneficial microbes (probiotics), the company needed to know exactly how, and what probiotics responded to the core ió fibrewater recipe which would be crucial for expanding their product range.

The Solution

In meeting with several different academic partners identified by Interface, Dr. John Butcher and Dr. Ryan Kean from GCU proved to be ideal academic partners, possessing the necessary expertise and enthusiasm for the project. This collaboration not only provided funding for research but also enriched the academic portfolios of the researchers involved, providing an interdisciplinary project in the fields of microbiology and prebiotic food science. Additionally, it provided valuable experience for an undergraduate BSc Food Science student to generate preliminary work as part of their final year research project. Working with a newly launched, novel, prebiotic drink was an excellent opportunity for the student, providing a meaningful project as part of a larger piece of work.

The funding received for this collaboration allowed the purchase of key strains of probiotic bacteria, which now form part of the GCU bacterial culture collection to be used in future teaching and research projects at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The project also led to the development of lab methods that will translate to future projects. In addition, these strains have been utilised in public outreach activities including school visits and open evenings for the promotion of Food Science.

The collaboration yielded significant findings, which were released in November 2022 on GCUs social media platforms, promoting Food Science, academia and industry collaboration. The findings also bolstered investor interest for The Prebiotic Company and paved the way for further collaborations with academic and healthcare institutions.
GCU’s research findings are currently guiding the development of new product variants to add to the ió fibrewater product range.

The Benefits

Company Benefits

• The ability to scientifically validate the product, enhancing consumer confidence and strengthening brand credibility.
• New knowledge leading to the development of future products.
• Expanded product range and potential entry into the healthcare market.
• Increased investor interest and secured pre-seed investment.
• Interest from Universities of Roehampton and Aberdeen in further studies on ió fibrewater for managing type 2 diabetes and tumour growth.

Academic Benefits

• Interest from other academic and healthcare institutions for future studies.
• Enhanced academic portfolios and student experiences.
• Public engagement and promotion of Food Science.
• Enhanced reputation and networking opportunities within academia and industry.

Next Steps

• Investigate the effects of ió fibrewater on specific probiotic bacteria.
• Organise Food Science Innovation Workshops.
• Secure further funding for human trials assessing ió fibrewater’s impact on health metrics.
• Winners of the World Best Drink Innovation Award 2023 and secured £70K Scottish Edge funding in November 2023.
• ió fibrewater launched in Asda in March 2024, marking a significant milestone in its retail presence.

The personal health journeys of the company’s founders Mohsin Laginaf, Alyssa Reid and Jay Curthan continue to drive their commitment to improving gut health for consumers through innovative products like ió fibrewater.

Azets are hosting an event with Scotland’s Minister for Small Business, Trade and Innovation, Richard Lochhead, serial entrepreneur Brian Williamson, and a stellar panel of experts for an engaging and informative dive into the world of supporting innovative businesses to help them scale and succeed.

The Government’s vision is for Scotland to be one of the most innovative small nations in the world by 2033.

Event details

Date: Tuesday 23 April 2024

Format and timings:

Arrival: 4:00pm – 4:15pm

Welcome and steer from Richard Lochhead: 4:15pm – 4:25pm

Panel session followed by Q&A: 4:25pm – 5:00pm

Networking and refreshments: 5:00pm – 6:00pm

Location: Azets, 3 Semple Street, Edinburgh, EH3 8BL

Panel Members
• Gemma Monaghan, R&D Tax Partner at Azets
• Craig Hutchison, Patent Attorney at Lawrie
• Andrew Castell, Partner at Par Equity
• Brian Williamson, award-winning entrepreneur

You can register and submit your question for the panel members below.

• Are you a creative company, or in the GLAM sector, and innovating?
• Do you need help with data, technology, or research edge expertise?
• Can critical friends from academia help you see things from a new angle, solve problems and move forward?

Edinburgh College of Art invites you to a networking event on the 1st of March, 5-7PM, designed to bring together academics from throughout Edinburgh College of Art and selected external partners from a range of sectors, held at Inspace Gallery.

This is partly a chance to catch-up with partners we’ve worked with in the past but also to forge new connections with people who work in similar areas to explore opportunities to work together in the future, with 30 researchers from across ECA who are enthusiastic about making connections and impact with external partners.

The programme will be designed based on responses we get from invitees but, broadly speaking, there will be opportunities to present a problem, an idea, a call for collaboration in a short ‘pitch’ or to exhibit something, if desired. Both are optional, and there will be ample time for informal chats (with drink and nibbles!) Our researchers will be pitching their ideas and interests to you too.

Please e mail Claire at Claire.pembleton@ei.ed.ac.uk if you would like to attend by 5pm Friday 23 February.

Attend this AI Accelerator event and hear from the 12 innovative companies who have taken part in this year’s AI Accelerator Programme. Selected under the themes of Health, Climate and AI for Good, the scaleup cohort are applying AI for positive change across a broad range of sectors. Meet them in person at this Showcase event in the prestigious Playfair Library Hall in central Edinburgh on the 20th March 2024.

This year the programme celebrates it’s 5th birthday. Collectively, previous cohort companies have raised over £66m in investment since taking part.

When?

20th March 2024 from 1:30 pm to 7:00 pm. Registration from 1 pm. (The event will also be streamed online for those unable to make it in person. The online event will end at 5pm).

What’s on the agenda?

From 13:30 – 17:00 each of the 12 innovative companies will pitch their solution and their business. They are looking for investment, collaborations and customers. You can vote for the best pitch, with a cash prize on offer for the winning pitches. This event is also a celebration of the programme’s fifth birthday, so we will be reflecting on the last 5 years with Nick Jones, founder & CEO of Zumo. They took part in the very first programme. We will also be looking forward to what might happen in the field of AI in the next 5 years with Richard M Marshall, tech entreprenuer, industry analyst and Parkour enthusiast.

From 17:00 – 19:00 there will be networking opportunities where you can chat and build relationships with founders, investors and academics over a coffee or drinks and a canapé. You can look forward to a day of discovering potential opportunities for investment, collaboration, and inspiration.

About the AI Accelerator

The 6-month Accelerator Programme scales AI-driven companies from both Scotland and the rest of the world. The AI Accelerator is delivered by the Bayes Centre, the University of Edinburgh’s Innovation Hub for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, and supported by Edinburgh Innovations, the commercialisation service of the University. It is delivered on behalf of the University’s Data-Driven Innovation Hubs, in contribution to the Data-Driven Entrepreneurship programme.